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Linux distributions provide users with a wide array of options when choosing an operating system. Users typically anticipate that software designed for Linux should operate seamlessly across various distributions. Nonetheless, the responsibility falls on developers to ensure their applications are compatible with all the different distros. This book aims to establish a foundation that assists software engineers in creating more versatile programs. It does so by highlighting some of the key differences among Linux distributions that are significant for software development, as well as explaining how these diversities are first built into the distributions themselves.

In the Reproduction chapter, you will find guides on how you can also generate these distro differences for your own analysis.

Under the Distros section, you will find how these linux distributions are built from the ground up, which is where the divergence happens.

Under the Main Differences section, you will find some of the main differences between Linux distros, and how they may impact a software's portability.

This book hopes to be useful for all software engineers, sysadmins, and security researchers. This book, code used throughout, and results are all available on Github under the MIT License.

This book was created by Ezri Zhu as the final project for CS 497 Independent Study at the Stevens Institute of Technology, advised by Professor Michael Greenberg.